Zombie Hunter Online
by BishopWolf1999
Summary: Takashi Komuro, a loner in life becomes involved a game of death called "Zombie Hunter Online" created by the person he admired. Now he must fight to survive as he makes new friends and allies along the way. He will now fight on to to see the end of this world. But will he survive it?
1. Prologue

I stayed up late on the night before everything came to an end.

It all started when I put on the nerve gear and said the words "Link start."

Now at this very moment I stand face to face with the creator of this death game and I plan to kill him and end this world forever.


	2. It All Begins With The End

(Fujimi academy, 10:00 a.m)

I sat on the stairs I usually went to for peace and quiet. Right now I was watching the news on my phone about the new game that came out recently called "Zombie Hunter Online"

I heard someone and I saw it was Takagi, she had bright pink hair, a slender body, a skinny face and a good chest probably a C cup maybe.

"Jesus you're so stupid. You're always coming up here when you want to listen about some stupid game." she said. I didn't say anything and she kept going.

"You know the first semester has just started, how are you ever going to make it through the year?" she asked me.

"I could say the same thing to you, the fifth period isn't even over yet." I retorted.

"It's okay because I'm genius, unlike you who got into this school by dumb luck." Takagi replied.

"Jeez Takagi, why do you always dis me like that?" I demanded. She gave me a look of "you're just so stupid" then she walked back to class.

I stayed at the stairs for the entire school day then when the final school bell rang I left the stairs and I went home. By the time I got home my sister Takagi was already getting ready to leave to go meet with some friends. I went upstairs to my room and waited for her to leave.

"I'm leaving now, I'll be back later." she told me from the door.

She then left and I was home alone. I grabbed my nerve gear helmet and "Zombie Hunter Online", put the disc in the computer, put on the helmet and I started.

"LINK START!" I exclaimed.

My subconscious was sent through the data stream through the main menu then I was sent into Z.H.O.

"Hello world, I'm back." I said.

As I looked around I also looked at my avatar, I had almost forgotten how it looked after so long.

My avatar was a hunter grade avatar, it was a great fit for me.

My avatar was dressed in torn navy blue jeans, black fingerless leather gloves, black combat boots, a black hoodie.

My weapons were a silver, metal bat and a bow and arrows.

Lastly my character himself was white, medium build, skinny, black spiky hair, and silver eyes.

I decided to go run around the town. It didn't exactly have a name but I called it "The Town of The Living" because this is the only place that's filled with living people in the game.

So I started running around town to get my bearings of the area and while on my run someone stopped me, he asked me "Hey you sure know your way around here, you got to be in the beta test didn't you?"

"Yeah. So?" I retorted with annoyance. He then backed up a bit.

"Relax, I didn't mean to offend you. I wanted to stop you because I wanted to ask you for some pointers. I'm new to Z.H.O." he said.

"Oh okay. Sorry about that. What's your name?" I asked him.

"My name? It's Zero. I chose to name myself after the "Zero-Fighter Plane" from the pacific war." he explained.

"Cool. My names Takamuro." I said.

After all the greetings, I took him to a low level boonie just outside of town. I started to show him how to fight and win small battles. He chose a gunman grade avatar so he was all about guns. In the small battle we were practicing with he used a Colt .19 custom pistol it was jet black with a silver streak across both sides and for me I used my bow and arrow.

"Okay. Now we need to be quiet or else we'll be detected. Got it?" I asked him. He nodded.

As soon as we found a shady spot behind some bushes and trees, we found a couple of walkers. I told him to watch me. I raised my bow with an arrow nocked and ready. Once I pulled back on the arrow it started to glow and the more focus I put on my target the brighter it became then once it was at its brightest I let it fly and I caught the zombie straight in the head. Zero was amazed then I told him to try.

"Okay." he replied.

So he raised his gun and aimed it at the undead monstrosity and I couldn't see the bullet glow but the more he focused the higher pitch the sound of the glow became then half a second later he shot his gun and got a direct headshot.

"YES! That was awesome!" he exclaimed.

"Congratulations. You're no longer a newbie in Z.H.O." I told him. I gave him a high five and asked him if he wanted to do some more hunting and he was up for it so we head out.

A few hours later we came to a close on our hunting. When we finished we walked to this hill top that had a great view of "The Town of The Living."

"You know every time I think about it, it's so crazy. I mean we're inside a game man." he told me in amazement.

"Its not that crazy." I told him in return.

"Give me a break it's my first full dive."Zero explained.

"Wait so you never put on a nerve gear till now huh." I asked him.

"Yep. Once I found out about this game. I saved all the money I could to buy all the hardware for Z.H.O, I stood in line for months and I scored one of the ten thousand hard copies." he explained.

"You know during the beta test, Z.H.O was all that was on my mind, day and night. In this world I feel more alive than I ever did in the real world." I said. He looked at me smiling and his smile to me basically said I understand how you feel so I returned a smile.

"Well listen, thanks for teaching me how to play this game. I'll pay you back one day, virtually that is." he said.

"No problem. Any time. So you want to try and do some more hunting?" I asked him.

"Sure but I gotta log out. I'm really hungry."Zero told me.

"Too bad the food here only makes you less hungry virtually." I told him.

"Yeah? Well I ordered a pizza for 6:00p.m. Anyway the game and the hunting can be put on hold after I stuff myself." he said.

We laughed then he turned around to log out.

"Hey, where'd the log out button go?" he asked bewildered.

"What do you mean? It should be at the bottom of the main menu." I said. I lifted my hand and brought it down then the menu showed up and I was shocked, Zero was right the log out button was just gone.

"See? It's not there." he told me. "So what? This is like the first day out of beta? There're bound to be some bugs, I bet the server people are freaking out." he said trying to be funny.

"You're not gonna be making jokes much longer. Look, it's 5:55 p.m." I told him.

"OH NO! My teriyaki, mayo pizza and ginger ale!" he screamed.

"Dude, relax. Just call the game master." I told him calmly.

"Yeah I did that but he's not picking up. See?" Zero told me.

I saw that he was calling the game master and he really wasn't picking up. This was getting weird. I tried calling the game master myself and it didn't work either.

"I got it. I'll just rip the nerve gear off my head." he suggested.

"That won't work. Once your plugged in, you can't move your body on the outside." I told him while still confused at the situation.

"So what're we gonna do? There's gotta be some way out." he thought.

"No there isn't. The only way a player can log out of "Zombie Hunter Online" is through the main menu through the logout button." I explained.

Once I finished my sentence, Zero and I were being teleported. We noticed that we were teleported to "The Town of The Living" in the plaza.

"Someone forced a teleport?" I asked in confusion.

Surrounding us were the other thousands of players that signed into Z.H.O at the same time as us today. They were all as confused as were.

"What's going on?" Zero asked me.

"I don't know." I replied.

Then I saw up in the sky that there was a small blinking red spot in the sky then it went from one to a thousand, it covered the entire sky.

Once that happened a blood like substance started the seep from the sky and it started to solidify into a giant human body that was floating in the sky then it spoke.

"Welcome players to "Zombie Hunter Online." I am the creator of this world, Akihiko Kayaba." he said.

Once he said that I remembered who he was from the news report this morning.

"By now I am sure most of you have noticed that there is something missing from your main menu, the logout button let me assure you this is not a defect of the game. This is how "Zombie Hunter Online" was meant to be." Kayaba told us.

After he told us the missing logout button was not a defect. He showed us reports of people that had recently died and it showed us how the people's families were reacting.

"As you can see here these are players that signed into the game and that have recently died. The reason why they have died is because they removed the nerve gear.

Now you're probably wondering how they can die from that well the reason is because the nerve gear is powered by microwaves and if someone on the outside removes the helmet or unlatches the safety strap the nerve gear will fry your brains.

Now there is something else you should know, if you get bitten by a zombie in the game and your health goes down to zero, you're avatar will become a zombie and the nerve gear will simultaneously fry your brain." Kayaba explained to us.

"He's crazy. This is totally crazy. He's gotta be kidding right Takamuro?" Zero asked me.

"No. He's right. The power in the helmet work just like microwaves. If the safety latch is removed, the microwaves could fry our brains." I explained.

As I explained this Zero was shocked and scared all in one.

"As I've explained this, I've placed a little present in your inventories." Kayaba told us.

I opened my inventory and looked for what he was talking about and I found it.

"A mirror?" I asked.

I clicked and it appeared in my hand and I looked into it. Zero looked into his then he was consumed in a bright blue light and in less than one second after looking into the mirror I was too then the light was gone.

"Hey, Takamuro. Wait? Are you taller?" Zero asked me.

"What do you mean?" I asked him.

I turn around and I see that he's right I'm my regular height and Zero was shorter than me by like a few inches. I noticed that he had short black hair, white skin and he was a bit chubby but not to much.

"What happened to us?" he asked me.

"I don't know." I replied.

Then I looked up at Kayaba.

"Now after hearing this it will give you some comfort with completing the game. Now the way to win this game is to reach floor 100 and defeat it then every player will be automatically signed out of the game." Akihiko explained to us.

We were all just staring up at him confused, angry and scared but for me I was angry but calm.

"This concludes the tutorial." he said.

Once Kayaba said that he then dissipated into a cloud of smoke and everything went back to normal but we were all just standing there scared. I knew Kayaba was a genius and I admired him for everything he did and after hearing all that I knew that everything he said was true.

(A player drops her mirror)

"No. Nooooooo!" she screamed.

Then once she screamed chaos happened. Everyone started to cream and shout and curse out Akihiko Kayaba. Once I saw an opening I grabbed Zero and ran out of the town plaza and into an alley way right outside of it.

"Listen Zero, I'm heading out to the next town. I know all the safe passages and short cuts we can take to get there even at level 1 I can make it there easy. Plus once everyone starts heading out of the town all the good hunting spots will be taken and there's only so much cash and points to go around." I told him.

"Um, thanks but no thanks. I appreciate the offer but I think I'm gonna stay back and keep working on my skills first." he told me.

"Are you sure?" I asked him.

"I'm sure. Listen you get your ass back to the next village. I'll be fine." he replied.

"Alright and if you're ever in trouble message me alright?" I told Zero.

"Sure." he replied.

I gave him one last glance but he was gone then I turned away and started to run. I kept running until I got outside the town and I saw a zombie. I grabbed my bat and I held it ready to strike and it started to power up then when I felt it fully charged I jumped through the air and slammed the bat into its head.

"AAAAAAHHHHH!" I screamed.

 **(The World by Nightmare *Japanese version*)**

 **(I DO NOT OWN THIS SONG!)**

 **Hirogaru yami no naka**

 **kawashiatta kakumei**

 **no chigin**

 **Dare ni mo**

 **jamasaseru wake ni**

 **wa ikanai kara**

 **Kajitsu ga tsugeta**

 **mirai**

 **Yume, risou ni**

 **kaeru**

 **Dare mo ga**

 **Nozonda "owari" o**

 **Hirogaru yami no**

 **naka kawashiatta**

 **kakumei no chigin**

 **Dare ni mo**

 **jamasaseru wake ni**

 **wa ikanai**

 **Itsuka boku ga**

 **misete ageru**

 **Hikarikagayaku sekai o**


	3. The Cheating Hunter

Chapter 2: The Cheating Hunter

(Floor 1: Vale, 9:00 a.m)

(Players walking to the square)

It's been a whole month since all this bullshit happened. Throughout this whole game over 2,000 players have died but their avatars have not. So far in all this time no ones been able to clear the floor 1 boss. As I leaned against a wall keeping my face hidden I watched as more and more players gathered in the square.

I used to be a beta tester and even though I'm more experienced in some of the lower levels even I haven't been able to find the floor boss's room. I looked up and saw a bunch of players gathered. Today though we've all gathered here to have a meeting to finally find and defeat the floor 1 boss.

 **(The World by Nightmare *Japanese version*)**

 **Hirogaru yami no naka**

 **kawashiatta kakumei**

 **no chigin**

 **Dare ni mo**

 **jamasaseru wake ni**

 **wa ikanai kara**

 **Kajitsu ga tsugeta**

 **mirai**

 **Yume, risou ni**

 **kaeru**

 **Dare mo ga**

 **Nozonda "owari" o**

 **Hirogaru yami no**

 **naka kawashiatta**

 **kakumei no chigin**

 **Dare ni mo**

 **jamasaseru wake ni**

 **wa ikanai**

 **Itsuka boku ga**

 **misete ageru**

 **Hikarikagayaku**

 **sekai o**

(Floor 1: Vale, 10:00 a.m)

We all gathered on the seats inside a small amphitheater in Vale. I sat in a seat at the top so that I was separated from the other players. Once everyone was seated, the person that called the gathering appeared. He appeared to us in the form of a knight which I thought was an interesting choice for this kind of game but it suited him for the way he seemed.

He was average height, with silver hair, white, brown eyes and he carried a long sword with him.

"Okay. Now that everyone's all here and accounted for, let's get this meeting started. I'd like thank everyone that came to this meeting. It's nice to meet you all. My name is Igashi and in this game, the job I rolled is knight." Igashi announced.

"Bro, there's no job system in this game." a random player yelled.

"You guys want to hear why I called this meeting or not?" Igashi asked.

(Everyone fell silent to listen then Igashi got serious)

"Good. Anyway here's the deal. Our party found the boss room at the top of tower today." Igashi said.

(Everyone becomes surprised and shocked)

"First things first, we need to beat the boss and resume to floor 2. Next, we need to spread the word to everyone in "The Town of The Living" that it is possible to defeat this godforsaken game." he explained. "The thing is, it's our job as the more combat ready players. Do you agree?!" he exclaimed to us.

(Players start to clap and whistle)

When Igashi explained all this it seemed like there might be some hope to beat this game after all. I saw that a bunch of the other players looked so elated at all this information and I sort of was too.

"Okay, glad we're all on the same page. Now, let's plan out how we're going to defeat the boss." he said. "First off we'll team up into parties of six." he said.

Once he said that we were to team up into parties of six, I was surprised and I was shocked. I then started to look frantically around and everyone was forming parties.

"A normal party doesn't stand a chance in a fight like this. We need to create a raid group made of several different parties." Igashi told us.

Everyone found their groups except for me. I thought I as going to be group less until a saw a player just a few feet from me. The player was a girl. I decided to slide over next to her and ask her if she wanted to join me in a party.

She wore a simple attire that of a fencer. She wore a white shirt, a red skirt, red shoes, a dark crimson hood to hide herself from other players and finally she wielded a rapier which seemed suitable for her.

"Hey. You got left out as well?" I asked her.

"No. I wasn't left out. It just looked like everyone else seemed like they were already friends." she retorted.

"So you're a solo player too. Well since we're both solo, you want to join in a party with me?" I asked her.

She looked at me a little weird.

"Look, you heard what he said. We can't win this fight as solos plus it would only be for this fight." I told her.

She nodded in agreement so I opened my menu and I went to "Send Party Invite". I clicked it and it sent her an invite to join my party. She accepted.

Her name then popped up and I made sure to memorize it in my mind "Rei".

"Great. Now that everyone's teamed up-" Igashi was saying before he was interrupted.

"JUST WAIT A MINUTE!" a mysterious player said while he jumped into the air and landed next to Igashi. "My names Kibaou. Got it? Before we take down the boss. I want to say something." Kibaou told us. He was a teenager, white, orange triangular hair and he seemed like a moderate version of how Igashi looked. He also carried a short sword at his side

Everyone fell silent waiting for him to explain what he wanted to say to us.

"We understand about the 2,000 players that have died so far right? Well some of you need to apologize right now!" he told us.

"Kibaou. I think I know who you're referring to. You mean the Ex-Beta testers." Igashi said.

"Of course I mean them. Ever since this game started, the Beta testers just up and left right?

They just left us beginners to fend for ourselves without any sort of help.

They stole all the good boonies and they took all the easy quests as well.

They were the only ones getting stronger in this game. Hell, I bet there are some hiding among us right now!

Come on out traitors! We should have apologize and give up everything they hoarded for themselves. They can't expect the party to trust them if they don't trust us. Why should we?" Kibaou explained to us.

Once Kibaou said all those things I felt so guilty and I struggled to keep myself from revealing who and what I was. I almost did but I didn't because someone spoke up against Kibaou.

"Can I say something?" a player asked.

The player was a black man around six feet tall, bald and had a small beard at his chin. His avatar was that of a berserker. He wore a brown and white tank top, brown and white pants to match and a doubled sided axe on his back along with a chest plate.

"Yo, my names Agil. Kibaou, right? Let me get something straight... You say that the Ex-Beta testers should be blamed for the rookies deaths and that they should apologize and give up their winnings. I leave anything out?" Agil asked.

"No. You didn't." Kibaou replied.

Agil pulled out a book from his back pocket and showed it to Kibaou.

"The item stores give these out for free... It's a guidebook. You got one didn't you?" Agil asked.

"Of course I did." Kibaou retorted.

"You know who we're giving these out? The Ex-Beta testers." Agil said.

He turned to us and started to speak to us.

"Listen up. Everyone had equal access to this information even so many players still didn't survive. Now I didn't come here to point fingers at anyone. I came here to figure out how to beat the boss." Agil announced.

When Agil told everyone all that stuff, I felt a flush of relief come over me. Agil then turned to look at Kibaou and he grunted and sat in a seat in the font row.

"Right, can we get back to the meeting please? For all the information on the boss it's all right here in the latest issue of the guidebook you just heard about." Igashi said.

Everyone, me included was surprised at that notion Igashi made.

"According to the guidebook, the bosses name is Tsunoku The Mongrel Zombie King as well he'll be protected and guarded by his underlings The Mongrel Zombie Sentinels.

Tsunoku wields a naginata, he has 4 health bars then when the final bar gets down to red, he switches to two small, slightly curved weapons called zanbato and he can change his form of attacking as well." Igashi explained.

As Igashi explained the info everyone was getting anxious about the fight because they didn't know this info. When he finished explaining he closed the guidebook that was in his hands and put it away.

"That's it for the briefing. As for distributing loot, money will be equally divided among everyone. The party that beats the boss gets the experience and whoever gets an item gets to keep it. Any questions?" he asked.

Once Igashi asked the question o one objected to the plan.

"Good. We leave tomorrow at 9:00 in the morning. Meeting adjourned people!" Igashi exclaimed.

Once the meeting was over everyone just started to socialize and hangout.

As for me I sat in my seat for a little bit but my party member well she decided to just leave, I wanted to try and talk to her real quick but she was already outside the entry way.

After a few minutes I decided to leave the amphitheater and go around the town see if I could get something to eat or even buy some new gear maybe. When I got into town I decided to get something to eat because I was hungry. Later, it became night and everyone had fun in the square

but as for me I decided to sit with my party member who was on a bench in an alley not far from the square.

"Hey, mind if I sit with you?" I asked her.

She gave me a look from under her hood but allowed me to sit anyway she was eating a roll and so was I coincidently.

"These are pretty delicious, right?" I asked.

"You actually think these are good?" she asked me in return.

"Yeah. I mean ever since I arrived I like to have one at least once a day but I kind of have a trick to make it taste better." I told her.

"What trick?" she asked.

"I've noticed that sometimes like to ask questions and answer questions with questions." I told her as I took out a small jar and placed it on the bench. "Try it with some of that." I told her.

She looked at it hesitantly then she tapped her index finger and it became shrouded in a faint light. She then dragged her finger against the roll and was surprised.

"Cream?" she asked in confusion.

As she questioned the cream that she spread on her bread I tapped the jar and spread some on my roll and took a bite. When I bit into the bread, the jar vanished. My mysterious partner Rei then decided to finally take a bite into the creamed covered bread and within a second she devoured the whole thing.

"Haha, you must've been hungry." I told her. "Anyway I got that cream from a quest I did in the previous town. You know how I passed it?" I asked her trying to keep the conversation going.

"No thanks because I didn't come here to eat good food." she said.

"Okay then. Why are you here?" I asked her.

"So that I don't lose sight for who I truly am. I don't wish to lock myself away in a room and slowly rot like the creatures that inhabit this game. I'd rather live as my true self until the end." she told me.

When she spoke those words she reminded me of how I was and how I felt when I started this game.

"Even if I don't survive and a Zombie kills me. I won't lose this game or this world." she said.

As she finished her I sentence I finished the last the last of my roll and looked to the start night sky. The sky almost resembled that of Van Goghs "Starry Night."

"Well I wouldn't want my party member dying on me. So try not to die tomorrow. Okay?" I asked.

She looked at me in surprise and I could've sworn that when she did I could see in my peripheral vision that of a twinkle that could have been her eyes that were illuminated ever so quickly by the street lamps and the full moon.

(Floor 1: Forest Field, 9:30 a.m)

We all got together at 9:00 a.m as planned and head out for the boss tower. By the time we got to the forest it took us about a half hour. While everyone was in front I was in the back with my party member going over the strategy for our part in the plan.

"Alright so let's go over it again. We're the back. So our targets are going to be the bosses underlings The Mongrel Zombie Sentinels." I told her.

"I know." she replied.

Ever since our talk last night she's been a little more talkative and less inquisitive like before.

"So I'll use a weapons skill to knock their weapons into the air then you'll switch in and deliver the final blow." I told her.

"What's a switch?" she asked.

I gave her a look of surprise.

"Okay. Level with me. Is this the first time you've ever been in a party?" I asked her.

"Yep." she replied.

Once she said that I stopped dead in my tracks with an expression of shock and gave out a sigh of grief then we started to catch up with the rest of group.

(Top of tower (Boss Door), 10:30 a.m)

After an hour or so of trying to get through the boss tower we finally reached the top of the tower and we now stood in front of the door that lead into the boss room.

"Listen up everyone! I only have one thing to say to you! Let's win!" Igashi told us.

Igashi then opened the door and we charged in. Within the room it was pitch black but then within seconds the entire room lit up.

Across the room the boss itself sat on a throne then once he saw us jumped from his perch and onto the ground and screamed into the air.

Once that happened his underlings appeared and they charged at us.

"Begin strike!" Igashi commanded.

We all charged at the boss and sentinels, once we clashed the fight began.

(Boss room, 10:35 a.m)

Five minutes into the fight and we were getting more and more underlings thrown at us.

"Teams Alfa and Charlie switch in!" Igashi commanded.

The thing Igashi thought of was using military code names for the teams.

"Here he comes. Bravo team block him!" he commanded.

As Igashi said the boss started his strike and Beta team blocked it with maximum effort.

"Team Charlie, keep defending our right flank and prepare to switch in. Everyone else when you fall back, regroup and strike them. Teams Delta, Echo and Foxtrot keep those underlings away from us!" Igashi demanded.

"You got it!" I yelled back.

I charged at one of the undead warriors. I pulled back my bat and it started to glow with more and more power as it charged up then I slammed it into the zombie mongrels weapon and the weapon went flying.

"Switch in!" I yelled to Rei.

"I got it!" Rei yelled back as she ran in to attack.

When I met this girl I thought she was beginner in MMOs but she's got good skills. Her rapier was so fast I couldn't even see the tip of the blade. She used her skill on the sentinel we were fighting and the attack blasted the creature back then the creature vanished.

"Nice moves." I said.

Another monster appeared from behind me but spun around slamming my bat against its blade knocking back a few feet. I started to charge at it but before I could I heard the howling of the mongrel king.

Once I heard that retched sound I turned around and saw that the other teams were able to get the bosses final health bar down to the red then it tossed its weapon aside to switch to the other one.

"Looks like the guidebook wasn't wrong after all." Kibaou commented with a smirk.

"Stand your ground! I got this!" Igashi said.

When I pushed back an underling for Rei to finish off, I turned around and saw Igashi running in to take on the boss by himself. When he did that I was confused because I remember the plan being for everyone to surround the boss and strike all at once.

Then I noticed that Igashi smiled at me then stood his ground to face the boss and used one of his skills but while he did that I saw something. The bosses backup weapon wasn't the twin zanbato, it was a 24 inch katana, this wasn't anything like the Beta test.

"No wait! Stop! It won't work! Run!" I yelled to Igashi.

But it was too late. He was already starting to charge at the boss but the boss became too fast. The boss only left a whoosh through the air before slashing at Igashi with its giant blade sending him flying across the room.

"IGASHI!" Kibaou yelled.

When Igashi finally landed on the ground I ran to his side to help heal him.

"What in the hell were you trying to do?" I asked him as I was pulling out a syringe filled with a clear colored serum that replenishes health.

As I was beginning to inject the serum into Igashis avatar he stopped me.

"You know. I knew you were a Beta tester." he told me.

"You were going after the final bonus strike on the boss to gain the rare item. You were a Beta tester just like I was." I said.

"Please. Help me with one last request." he told me.

"Anything." I told Igashi.

"Please, finish off the boss for everyone that's left and once my health finishes off please smash my head so that no one sees me become one them." he asked.

"I will. I promise." I told him.

Once his health was gone as well as his consciousness I set him down flat on the floor. I stood up, gripped my bat, lifted it over my head and waited till it fully charged. Once it did I slammed it into Igashis head.

"Nooooooooooooo!" Kibaou screamed with a horrified look on his face.

I turned and looked at the boss with fire in my eyes as hot and blazing as the ones in hell itself.

"I'll go with you." Rei told me.

"Good. I'll need you." I told her.

We started to run towards the boss and I gave her quick plan explanation.

"We'll hit the boss just like we did with the underlings, got it?" I asked her.

"I got it." she replied.

The noticed us charging him so he started to charge up weapon skill. I did the same with my bat and waited for it to fully charge up then the boss attacked with his incredible speed.

"Aaaaaaaah!" I screamed.

I then slammed my bat into his blade sending it into the air while he was still holding it and sending me back a couple feet.

"Switch in!" I yelled to Rei.

She started to charge the boss with her rapier already charged up but she was too late to attack the boss already recovered from the stun. The boss then went in for an attack.

"REI!" I screamed.

It was the first time I said her name. As I screamed her name she noticed the attack and dodged it but still getting her coat in the attack. The katana then destroyed the hooded robe causing it to vanish but once the boss was open for an attack Rei went in for the hit.

"Aaaaaah!" she screamed as she stabbed the boss in the rib cage.

Once I saw her attack the boss and her without the robe I was in awe on both accounts because her attack was a great hit but she looked stunning.

"He's getting ready for an attack!" I yelled as the boss recovered from Rei's shot.

We kept up our strategy as many times as possible until the boss tricked me and slashed at me from below which sent me flying into Rei which pushed her and me a few feet back. The shot the boss made caused me to lose half my health which was fine,

I wasn't dead so I was good. The boss stood above us right about to strike but Agil stepped in and parried the bosses shot.

"We'll hold off this bastard till you recover." Agil told me.

While I was recuperating everyone in the raid group was fighting off the boss as they could. The boss stroked back at all of them and sent himself into the air getting ready to strike them all.

"Watch out guys!" I screamed as I switched to my bow and arrow.

I nocked two arrows, charged them up, jumped mid air then shot the glowing red arrows at the zombie kings head but it wasn't enough. I was able to shoot him down into the floor. I got down to ground level, running towards he boss.

"Come on, Rei! Help me kill this fucker! One last attack!" I yelled over to her as I switched back to my bat.

"You got it!" she yelled back.

We ran together straight towards the boss head on.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" we screamed in unison.

We attacked and attacked the boss, one barrage of attacks after another. I kept striking the boss with my bat and Rei with her rapier. I kept charging my weapon every two seconds with every attack.

I struck the boss across the face with my bat then shot it in the chest and head multiple times then I finally jumped into the air 50 feet up and came down at high speed with my weapon charged.

I smashed the mongrel kings head clean off causing the boss to dissipate into dust and within a second we were all celebrating because we won.

(Entire raid group celebrates and while leveling up)

I stayed crouched on the floor seeing that I won the rare item. The small blipped up showing the items name "Shadow Cloak."

"Great job out there." Rei told me.

"Yeah, that was some great fighting man. Today's victory is all because of you." Agil added.

"No..." I said.

Everyone started to agree with Agil and Rei, they were congratulating me for beating the boss.

"Stop that pathetic cheering and celebratory bull crap!" Kibaou yelled. "Why'd you do it, huh? Why'd you let Igashi just die right then and there?" Kibaou questioned.

"Let? Let him die?" I asked confused.

"Yeah. That's right!" Kibaou yelled with tears in his eyes. "Admit it, you bastard. You knew the techniques the boss was going to use on us! You could have told us then Igashi could've survived, he wouldn't have had to die!" Kibaou exclaimed.

"I know why, he could've known!" a random player yelled. "He used to be a beta tester. I mean just think about it, he knew all the forms of attack the boss was going to use. He knew this but he lied about it!" the player exclaimed.

"I bet that he's not the only player whose a beta tester in this raid group! Come on out and reveal yourselves!" another player yelled.

I kept thinking to myself that this isn't going to end well if this continues on. If I don't stop this then everything Igashi hoped for everyone will be all for nothing. Then I smirked with the perfect plan.

"Hey. You guys need to calm down right now, okay? This isn't going to help anyone by turning on each other." Agil explained. "Doing all this isn't going to bring back your friend." Agil told Kibaou.

"Hehehehehehahaha. So you guys truly think that I used to be a beta tester? Don't make me laugh. All those other players that got in were nothing rookies they couldn't even compare to me." I told them.

"What did you just say?!" Kibaou yelled.

"You see compared to me I was the master of the beta test because I got farther in the game than any other player. I knew all about the boss because I beat bosses way badder and stronger than this one.

I also know a bunch of other stuff as well more than you could think of, more than any intel hacker." I explained to all of them.

When I told them all this everyone was looking at me in shock and surprise.

"The hell? If that's true than you're worse than a tester, you're a goddamn cheater." Kibaou exclaimed.

"No way! He's a beta tester and a cheater. He's a beater!" a player yelled.

When I heard the term beater it just felt so right. So I decided to use it as my title.

"Hmmm. A beater? Ha ha. Oh yeah, that's good." I told them all.

They all looked at me in anger and shock all mixed together.

"Alright. You can call me a beater so long as you don't confuse me for newbs." I said as I smirked.

I opened my inventory and started to look for the rare item and I found it.

I then clicked the name and my avatar was then shrouded by the cloak I had won.

I then gave everyone a smirk goodbye and headed for the warp gate. As I did Rei chased after me and stopped me halfway up the stairs.

"Hold on. When we were beating the boss together, you said my name." she told me.

"I didn't mean to say it out of turn. Did I say it wrong?" I asked her.

"How'd you even know it?" she asked me. "I don't remember telling you my name, ever." she said.

"Well you see. When you look right around here." I said as I pointed to a certain point in the air. "You should see another health bar below yours with a name next to it." I told her.

She started to look at her health bar and saw the one below it.

"Ta-ka-mu-ro. Takamuro? You're names Takamuro." she told me.

"Yeah. That's me. Don't wear it out." I told her.

"Ha ha. I'm so stupid sometimes. It was there the whole time and I never noticed it." she said.

"You can get very strong on your own but if someone you truly believe in asks you to join a guild, don't turn down the offer, join with them because there're a lot of things a solo player can't do on his or her own." I explained.

"But you're a solo player." she told me.

"Yeah. I know. But that's just who I am." I told her.

Once I finished talking, I went into my menu and went to "disperse party" and clicked it then I agreed and I was once again a solo player. The gates then opened and I walked away through them and from everyone else.

 **(Shunkan SENTIMENTAL by SCANDAL *Japanese version*)**

 **Kawashiata hazuno nai**

 **yakusoku ga**

 **Kyou mo**

 **Bokura no mirai wa**

 **ubaou to suru**

 **Hoshigatte ita mono wo**

 **te ni shite mo**

 **Sunao ni**

 **Umaku waraenai no**

 **wa naze darou**

 **Afureru namida wa**

 **yowasa ya**

 **koukai janai**

 **Itami ga unda**

 **kakera de**

 **Donna shunkan datte**

 **unmei datte**

 **Hitotsu dake tashika**

 **na mono ga aru**

 **to shitta**


	4. A Dead Christmas

(Floor 13: Forest Field, 7:00 p.m)

Today I was walking through a forest field on floor 11 to try and find some good hunting areas when I came across a small group of five having some serious trouble against a miniature hoard of walkers, about 10 or so.

I thought that they'd be fine so I let them fight on their own a little longer.

After 6 minutes so I jumped into the fray.

"Hey! Move out of the way!" I screamed to them then they all moved.

I started to use a weapon skill by pulling my bat over my head then slamming it into a zombies head destroying it.

"Aaaaaaah!" I screamed as I smashed another walkers head into a tree.

After two minutes of of using my bat I switched to my bow then I used a tri-shot weapon skill twice and I finished off every last zombie. I looked back at the group I saved and they looked like a simple bunch.

"Wow. That was fucking awesome!" one of the players yelled.

The one that yelled was dressed in simple look of a white t-shirt, baggy blue jeans, black combat boots, a red baseball cap and a katana strapped to his waist. He had blond hair, blue eyes, white skin and was an inch or so shorter than I was.

"Who are you?" another player asked.

The one who asked my name seemed to be the leader. He wore a sleeveless, forest green, jean jacket, red t-shirt, black jeans, grey converse and held a scythe over his shoulders. He had brown eyes and hair, light tan skin and was average height.

I removed my hood and introduced myself. "The names Takamuro. What're your names?" I asked in return.

"I'm Keita, the leader of this guild. These are my friends Tetsuo, Ducker, Sasamaru and Shina." Keita said.

I looked over the rest of the group. Tetsuo was around my height, brown hair, white skin, his eyes were the kind that were closed but he could still see and he had twin pistols in holsters, one on each side of his waist. He wore a thin purple hoodie, grey pants and black boots.

Shina had a very simple outfit, it was that of high school girls uniform: a short sleeve, white, button down, collar shirt, blue skirt and black shoes also she wielded a steel spear. She had blue eyes and hair, cream colored skin and was about Duckers height.

Lastly Sasamaru was sort of like Shina, he wore a boys high school uniform: a white shirt, a black, button down, long sleeve, collar shirt, black pants and black shoes as well he held a sledgehammer in his grip. He had brown hair, light tan skin, green eyes and he was as tall as Keita.

"Its nice to meet you all." I told them.

They returned the hello. When all the greetings were finished and we were all aquatinted, Keita, the leader said that he and his guild had to thank me for saving them so they offered me a drink. I didn't want to be rude so I

accepted the offer and we started for the nearest town which was Tonoso.

(Floor 11: Tonoso, 9:20 p.m)

We got to the town a few hours later and we went into the nearby tavern.

"Here's to us "The Moonlit Black Cats", cheers guys!" Ducker exclaimed.

"Cheers!" they all exclaimed.

"I got another one. Here's to the guy who saved our asses from being eaten! To Takamuro!" Ducker announced.

"To Takamuro!" they exclaimed.

"Um cheers everyone." I said hesitantly.

As they all were thanking me for helping them back in the forest field, I didn't exactly feel like I deserved all their thanks and praise.

"It was nothing, I mean you guys probably would've done the same thing if I were in trouble." I told them.

"Yeah, I guess you're right but still. We have to thank you for your help.

If you hadn't come to help when you did, we probably be standing here right now." Tetsuo explained.

"I can't tell how scary it was before you came. I was so scared of the zombies, so when you came to our aid, I was so relieved." Shina said as she wiped away little tears welling up in her eyes.

"Hey um, Takamuro? Sir? I'm hoping I'm not crossing the asking you this but I was curious. What's your level?" Keita asked.

"Uh, level 20. More or less." I said to him.

As I told him my fake level I looked at my real level. I was around level 40-42.

"So wait? You're around our level AND you're a solo player? You're the greatest I've ever seen sir." Keita said.

"Keita, listen you don't have to call me sir so much or even at all.

I'm not you're superior so you don't have to stick to formalities. I'm only a solo player because I'm always fighting in dead zones where I find huge hoards of zombies. It's not exactly the greatest strategy." I explained.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Well I'm sorry to pull this on you here in public but if you'd like to, we love to have you join our guild." Keita offered me.

When Keita told me that I could join their guild it sort of shocked me.

"Our marksman Tetsuo is the only one we can have on the front lines for our guild. Then we have Shina. I was thinking of trying to switch her to sword and shield but the only problem is that she doesn't think she'll be able to handle it." Keita explained while patting Shinas head.

I thought to myself that maybe joining them would be a good idea but I was still a beater.

"Hey, you know if you join the guild maybe you can teach Shina some tactics so she can know what to do in a fight." Keita said.

Shina pulled away from underneath Keitas hand. "Oh come on. Can you please stop talking about me like I'm so useless?" Shina asked. "Really, you can't just expect me to know how to fight on the front lines, I'd be terrified." Shina said.

"It's no big deal. Just hide behind us." Ducker said.

"Yeah, I mean ever since I could remember you've always been a scaredy cat." Keita said.

They all started to laugh and joke just like everything was normal. I was glad there were people like these still left in the game.

"We always like to joke around like this. It helps take the edge off. You see, in real life, we all go to the same high school and are members of the computer club. Though if you think you'll have trouble fitting in, don't, as far as I'm concerned you're already part of our group. Right?" Keita asked.

"Right!" the rest of them agreed.

When they said all those things I didn't know what to do but then I chose what to do.

"Well, thanks for the drink and the offer. I'll do it. I'll join the black cats!" I exclaimed as I raised my glass.

When I agreed to join their guild they were so happy and as was I.

 **(The World by Nightmare *Japanese version*)**

 **(I DO NOT OWN THIS SONG!)**

 **Hirogaru yami no naka**

 **kawashiatta kakumei**

 **no chigin**

 **Dare ni mo**

 **jamasaseru wake ni**

 **wa ikanai kara**

 **Kajitsu ga tsugeta**

 **mirai**

 **Yume, risou ni**

 **kaeru**

 **Dare mo ga**

 **Nozonda "owari" o...**

 **Hirogaru yami no**

 **naka kawashiatta**

 **kakumei no chigin**

 **Dare ni mo**

 **jamasaseru wake ni**

 **wa ikanai**

 **Itsuka boku ga**

 **misete ageru**

 **Hikarikagayaku**

 **sekai o**

(Floor 20: The Dead Forest, 10:00 a.m)

"Aaaah!"a walker screamed as it landed a hit on Shinas shield.

"Umph!" she grunted as she withstood the attack.

"Shina! Get out of the way I got this guy!" I exclaimed as I slammed my bet against one of the walkers swords out of his hand.

Today we were in a low level dead zone that I suggested for the guild and myself to go to for easy leveling. So far everyone was doing pretty good, they holding up against these dead bastards pretty well. At the moment we were fighting off one last walker but he was pretty tough.

"Tetsuo! Finish him off!" I yelled as I parried the dead creatures other sword out of the way.

"I got this!" he exclaimed as he ran and finished off the zombie with two bullets to the head causing it to vanish into nothing but pixels.

When Tetsuo finished off the zombie he won the experience and the items. Everyone congratulated Tetsuo and I did too. Today was a good days hunting for us. Soon after we returned to town.

(Floor 11: Tonoso, 11:00 a.m)

When we returned to Tonoso, I told everyone I'll meet them by the river. I left them at the hotel we were staying at in town. I went to a gear and weapons store.

I looked around and I found a nice, black, carbon fiber bow with arrows made from the same material also I found a Ithaca M37 shotgun, this gun was a great addition in the Vietnam war.

I decided to buy the gun, bow and arrows and some new clothes.

I left the store and went to meet everyone by the lake and they were already there waiting for me.

"Hey everyone." I said, waving at them and pulling my hood down.

I then sat down next to Keita by the lake while everyone else was a few feet behind us. Keita was reading at a newspaper that he'd bought at a store not far from where we were.

"Wow, the assault team made it all the way to floor 28. That's fantastic." Keita said then he asked, "Takamuro? What exactly does the assault team have that we don't?"

"Well, for one thing, they probably have access to detailed information. The best known possibility is that they know some higher up info brokers. So basically with that information, they'll be able to find out the easiest way to gain EXP, plus they don't share that info with anyone." I replied.

"Yeah. I guess you're right about that. But truly, I think what sets them apart from us, is their will power." Keita retorted.

"What do you mean?" I asked a little lost.

"What I'm trying to say is that they have the will to stick up for their friends or any player for that matter. Truthfully, I like to think that we have that same kind of drive, even if we still need to be protected.

With this being said, our main priority is the safety of each other. One day though, when strong enough, we'll join the elites in the assault team." he explained.

"I understand. That's great goal." I said.

As Keita was about to say something Decker was starting to sneak up on Keita.

"I mean I guess so." Keita said as he started to blush a faint cherry red.

"Hey, leader, give me some love!" Decker said as he put Keita in a headlock.

"Come on, Decker. Let go." Keita said as he was holding still in Deckers headlock.

"So, you really believe that we can join the ranks of The Blazing Marksman or The Holy Hunters?" Tetsuo asked.

"Yeah, of course I do. There's nothing wrong with having high goals. The situation is that we have to reach level 30 before we can try." Keita explained.

"That won't even be possible at the rate and level we're at right now." Shine said.

As they all started to mildly bicker, I started to think that Keitas views on things were great.

If the Black Cats can level up ASAP and reach the front lines then Keitas views could change the elitist views of the assault team.

This little band of players could change the whole system and that made me some what happy.

I interjected into the black cats bickering, "Guys?" I asked.

"Yeah, Takamuro?" asked Sasamaru.

"What is it?" Ducker asked curiously.

"You know, you guys are pretty strong with what I've been able to see you guys do in the field. If you level up fast enough, I believe that you guys will reach the front lines and help all of us beat this game, so that we all can leave." I told all of them.

They all looked at me and we all smiled and laughed. Once we finished our picnic, we cleaned ourselves off and started to walk back to the hotel.

While we were walking back, everyone was messing around and laughing but I was a bit behind everyone.

I started to look at my level, it was 48 and I wondered to myself, would I be able to tell them the truth or would I let them find out for themselves.

(Floor 11: Tonoso, 10:00 p.m)

That night we were all at the hotel and we were gathered in Keita and Tetsuos room.

"Alright, everyone. I have an announcement. After our recent hunts in the fields... We got 200,000 Col!" Keita announced.

Once Keita announced the amount of money we put together, we all got really excited and happy.

"You know, now buying our own house doesn't seem like a fantasy anymore." Tetsuo said.

"Oh, I got an idea. We should upgrade Shinas equipment that she can fight better without so much worry." Sasamaru suggested.

"No, I'm alright. What I have right now is fine." Shina said.

"Come on, don't be so narrow minded. You know, it's not exactly fair to have Takamuro be in front every time." Sasamaru said.

Shina apologized, "Oh, I'm sorry Takamuro."

"No, it's fine. Trust me I don't mind being forward, I actually prefer being in the fight." I said while reassuring Shina.

"Thanks, Takamuro. Shina, I know this is hard for you right now but believe me I know you can do this." Keita said.

Shina nodded in agreement but I saw in her eyes that she doubted herself and her potential. Later that night while everyone was asleep, I got myself ready for some late night hunting.

(Floor 28: Plague Wolf Valley, 11:30 p.m)

I arrived on Floor 28 because there're a lot of zombie wolf packs that hunt in the valley not far from a town on that floor. I started walking up the hill and what surprised me was to see... Zero of all people hunting on the same floor I usually come to. I could see he was crouching at the top of a boulder 70 feet away from the nearest pack.

He was wielding an AR-10 sniper rifle with Leupold M3A scope with a sunshade. He wore a simple form of military style look. Zeros avatar was dressed in black, military grade combat boots, a black cap, sleeveless, camouflage jacket and a black long sleeve shirt.

Zero crouched stone still and followed the instructions I gave him on how to shoot his gun just like the first day I met him. He aimed, breathed in then out and took the shot when he felt the bullet powered up, he did that exact process to every last wolf in the pack he was hunting. Once he finished, he saw me and smirked then he started walking in my direction.

"Hey Takamuro, what's up?" he asked me.

"Nothing much. I thought I'd come out here to hunt. I never thought I'd find you in the same place." I replied.

"Same. But wait. Is... Is that a guild symbol? I never thought in a million years that you would join a guild." he told me.

"Yeah, I thought so too. So I see you've been following the instructions I gave you on how to shoot just like when we first met." I said.

"You better believe it. Hey you know, why don't you come hunting with me for a bit?" Zero asked.

I pondered on the thought and I thought why not, maybe just for a half hour to an hour then I'll head back to Tonoso.

"Sure. I got time." I told him.

"Alright, just like the first time we met. Come on, I know a great spot that loaded with those plague wolves." Zero told me.

I nodded my head in agreement and we started walking to the spot that Zero talked about and we reached it within 10 minutes and he was right.

The entire area was crawling with Plague Wolves.

I armed myself with my bat and Zero armed himself with his rifle and went to the top of tree to keep me covered. Once he was in position, I ran in to attack.

"Aaaaaaaaah!" I screamed as I started smashing the infected wolf heads.

"Let's Rock-N-Roll!" Zero said as he started shooting the wolves that were trying to attack me from behind.

We went on attacking the wolves without mercy. I would switch out my bat with my M37 and started shooting the gun but I couldn't shoot it correctly at least three times so I switched back to bat. We finished off all the wolves within a matter of 45 minutes and Zero got down from the tree and walked over to me.

"Hey, those were some sick moves but why didn't you use your gun?" he asked.

"I couldn't shoot it correctly." I said feeling like an idiot.

"Well, I'll show you. Take out your gun." he said.

I took out my M37 and he just lost it.

"That's a Ithaca M37 shotgun!" he exclaimed. "That's amazing. Anyway, this kind of gun is simple to use. Basically, you shoulder the gun then you aim around the chest and fire. I recommend that you buy a scope, it'll make shooting easier. I recommend a red dot scope." he said.

"Thanks for the advice. I'll make sure to do that tomorrow." I told him.

"Anytime." he said.

We started walking back to the town not far from the valley then once we got there I headed to the warp gate to say goodbye.

"Well, it was good to see you again man." Zero said.

"Yeah, same here. I'll see around." I told him.

"Yep." he said with a grin.

Once we finished our goodbyes, I then walked onto warp gate and was transported back to Tonoso.

(Floor 11: Tonoso, 12:00 a.m)

I returned back to Tonoso and I started my walk back to the hotel but then I got a message from Keita. He wrote saying:

"Hey Takamuro,

It's Keita listen, Shina disappeared from her room and hasn't returned for a while now. We're heading for the dungeon right now to look for her. Please message me as soon as you find out something."

"Shina." I said a little worried.

Once I finished the reading Keitas message, I closed it and went into my skills menu. I searched my skills and found the one I was looking for, it was called "Track" and my silver eyes changed into a green color and I could see Shinas tracks.

I ran in the direction the tracks led to and within a couple minutes of running through the town, I found her sitting in the shadows in the waterways.

"Shina." I said.

"Takamuro." she said in return.

"Everyone's worried about you. They were scared that you ran away or worse." I told her.

She sighed with a tinge of sadness. I walked a couple feet closer to her and sat down at least 10 feet away.

"Takamuro?" she asked.

"Yeah, Shina?" I asked in return.

"We should run away." she said.

"Run away? Run away from what?" I asked a little bewildered.

"From everything. From this town, the monsters, the guild and from ZHO." she said.

"W-Wait. What do you mean? Are you talking about committing suicide?" I asked her a little fear stricken.

"Ha. You know? That doesn't sound like such a bad idea when you think about it. I mean committing suicide would be a better option than the alternative here." she said.

I gasped getting a little freaked out now.

"No, I'm sorry. That's not true. If I had the strength to die, I wouldn't be hiding in town where it's safe. I would be out there risking my life like everyone else." she said.

I sighed in relief and relaxed but I was still feeling as bit uneasy.

"Still though. Why do we have to stay here for some bastard?" she asked.

When she said that she surprised me.

"Why do we have to die and suffer when it's just a stupid video game? What's the point in all this?" she asked.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. There isn't a point in all this." I replied.

We sat there in silence for a couple seconds staring at the water and then she started to speak again.

"I'm so afraid of dying here." she said.

I gasped in shock when she said that. "It's really that bad for you in here, huh?" I asked.

She gasped in fear. "I've been so scared lately that I haven't even been able to get any sleep whatsoever." she said.

I looked at her. The way she was so scared. I felt so sorry that a girl -a person- like her had to suffer through this game. I felt so much sympathy for her suffering and fear of death.

"You won't die. Not as long as I'm around." I told her.

She looked at me in surprise. "Really? But how can you be so sure about that?" she asked.

"Because I'll always be there for you plus you also have the Black Cats. The Black Cats are a strong guild. You will survive this game as long as we're around." I told her.

"You really think that I won't die? Will I be able to get back to reality?" she asked.

"Yeah. Of course you will. I promise that you'll make it back that we'll all make it back." I told her.

She looked at me with happiness and with tears of joy. We started to walk back to the hotel and everyone was already there waiting and they were all happy to see her.

We all walked back to our respective rooms.

I went back to my room and started to look through my stats, skills and inventory.

I was about finished when I heard a knocking at the door so I closed my menu.

"Come in." I told the person at my door.

The door opened and it was Shina.

"Hi Takamuro, I'm sorry to disturb you. I just can't seem to get any sleep." she told me.

I had a nervous look on my face that she didn't notice thankfully.

"Um, okay. Come in then. You can have the left side of the bed." I told her.

"Thank you Takamuro." she said.

"No problem" I told her in return.

That night I started thinking that if I stay in the guild she'll be safe and so will the rest of the group and we'll all make it back to the real world.

I figured that there're probably a lot of players like Shina who have a fear of dying in this world.

But even so there are still players like the Black Cats who laugh, cry and try live as best they can in this world. I never thought about it the way that they do.

"Takamuro?" Shina asked.

I switched my expression to that of a happy one for her and turned over to see her.

"Don't worry. You won't die here. I promise Shina. We'll make it back some day." I told her.

She blushed in surprise at my statement then smiled and went back to sleep.

No matter what happens though I will protect all of you.

(Floor 11: Tonoso (Warp Gate), 10:45 a.m)

"Alright. I'm heading out now. Teleport: Town Of The Living." Keita said and he then covered by a bright blue light and he was gone.

"Man, can't believe it. Who knew buying a house could be this exciting?" Sasamaru said.

"Dude relax, alright? You sound like an old geezer." Ducker claimed.

We all laughed at Duckers claim for a few seconds then Tetsuo suggested that we should go and rack up some extra money while Keita was out.

"That's a great idea then we can buy furniture for our new home." Shina said.

When we were all in agreement to go do some more hunting, Ducker suggested that we should try and go to a dungeon on a higher floor but I then interjected.

"We should stick to our normal hunting spots." I said.

"But if we hunt up there, we'll make more money even faster than where we usually go to." Sasamaru said.

"Yeah and at our levels we got nothing to worry about." Ducker said.

At that point I couldn't change their minds. In the end we went to a higher floor level dungeon.

(Floor 27: Dungeon, 11:15 a.m)

"You see? I told you guys this was going to be so easy. At this rate we should be able to reach the front lines sooner than planned." Sasamaru said.

"Now that's what I'm talking about." Ducker said as he got a surprised look on his face. "Look." he said as he spotted something on a nearby wall.

Once we reached the wall Ducker was looking at, he showed us the spot with a large crack and a glowing light inside it.

Ducker then reached his arm out and touched the crack then the glow went from faint to a mild blinding light, when the light faded the wall with the crack collapsed and revealed a doorway.

"A hidden doorway?" I thought to myself.

Ducker then opened door and we saw that it was an empty room with... A treasure chest?

"A Treasure chest! Alright!" Ducker exclaimed.

Ducker, Tetsuo and Sasamaru went into the room except for me and Shina. I tried to stop them.

"NO, WAIT! Don't go in there! Don't open the chest!" I yelled to them but it was too late.

Ducker opened the chest. Once he did the room started to rumble and parts of the walls in the room collapsed revealing hoards after hoards of zombies.

I jumped in with Shina to try and help them then the door slammed close.

"It was a trap guys! Hurry, we have to get out of here!" I yelled.

Ducker took out his GPS and typed in the location of Tonoso and raised it to the air.

"Teleport: Tonoso!" Ducker yelled but it had no effect. "What? It's not working." Ducker said.

"Sasamaru! Try your GPS!" I yelled but Sasamaru and everyone else tried it but it didn't work.

When we couldn't teleport out of the cavern we decided to fight off the hoards. I took out my bat and started swinging at every walker that I could see then at the corner of my eye I saw that Ducker got thrown down and he was started to be eaten alive and he was screaming in horrid pain.

I tried to run to his aid but I was blocked by more and more of these undead bastards, by the time I got to him it was too late his avatar was transformed into an undead creature.

I looked into his cold white eyes and I ran at him. "Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!" I screamed as I bludgeoned my bat into his skull.

I then saw that Tetsuo was slashed at multiple times all over and he fell over onto the ground and his avatar started to violently convulse until it stopped and started to rise.

"Tetsuo!" Sasamaru screamed.

Sasamaru tried to slam his sledgehammer into Tetsuos moving corpse but missed.

The monstrosity that was now Tetsuo opened his mouth wide then bit down onto Sasamarus jugular causing him to fall on the ground and in pain, he couldn't even speak.

I looked away for a second then looked back at Sasamaru and saw that his HP was down to zero then his corpse rose up and joined the hoards to kill me and Shina, who were left.

I started to lose my mind to anger and sadness. I started screaming throughout the room striking every walker in the head with bat, one after another.

I looked around and I saw Shina trying to fight them off. "Shina!" I called out but she couldn't hear me.

I kept bludgeoning every single zombie I saw.

I kept powering up my bat every two seconds and striking every single monster with absolute anger and fear.

At this moment I feared losing Shina to these monsters and then I saw it.

She was fighting off every single zombie she could but then it happened.

"SHINAAAAAAAAAA!" I screamed with tears in my eyes as I saw a walker come up behind her and slap its jaw into her neck.

What I saw was horrifying, especially the look she had when it bit her with in 10 seconds her undead body rose and became one of them.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" I screamed with absolute rage.

Once Shina was one of them, I blacked out from the surge of adrenaline mixed with anger and the next thing I realize I return to consciousness.

When I awake all I saw was the final dead walker disappearing and seeing that I won the reward from the chest.

I then walked out of the trap room and I walked the way back to the entrance. Once I got there I left the dungeon and I didn't look back the whole time with tears in my eyes.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I couldn't save any of you." I said.

(Floor 49: Mordro, 10:30 p.m, 12/24)

I sat at a bench waiting for someone in the square of the town I was in right now.

"I heard that someone in particular has been taking risks with leveling lately." Argo said.

"You got anything new for me or not?" I asked her.

"Nothing that's worth putting a price on." she said.

"You give info brokers a bad name. You know that?" I retorted.

"Hey, chill out. This is a first time event. This wasn't in the Beta whatsoever. All I understand is that at midnight tonight the event boss will appear under a fir tree somewhere in the forest. The bosses name is Bloody Santa.

At the moment all the top guilds are searching for the tree right now." Argo said.

I got up to go and get myself ready for the fight against the even boss.

"You wouldn't happen, I don't know, know where the tree is would you?" Argo asked.

"Probably. But who knows I might be wrong." I said.

"Please tell you're to going solo on this one." she asked.

"What does it matter to you? You're just the info broker and I'm the customer." I said.

Before I left I turned around and went into my menu then I went into my Col amount. I clicked on my amount and paid Argo 2,000 Col.

"What? I told you didn't have to pay me." she said.

"No, you didn't. You said it was nothing charging me for but you didn't say I didn't have to pay you." I said as I walked away back to the hotel I was staying at.

Once I reached the hotel, I went to my room and I started to get myself ready for the fight. I started by looking for my weapons. I went though them and changed my regular steel bat for the carbon fiber one I bought a couple days ago then I chose my carbon fiber bow and arrows as well. Lastly I went through to find my Ithaca M37 and I did.

I started changing my attire as well by changing my regular coat into a winter version of it which kept body heat inside more than my regular one, black, combat boots made for snowy terrain, fingered, black, elastic gloves which keep in body heat as well and I kept my jeans.

I then thought to myself:

In this world, you can never revive the dead but I heard a rumor that if you can beat Bloody Santa, he'll drop a rare item that can help a player revive the dead. I'm going into this fight alone and I'll probably die that way. No one will ever see me, no will ever know that's how I'll die here.

I then started to remember the incident with Keita:

 _"You're a beater. You had no right to be with us whatsoever!" he said._

 _He then started to climb on top of the rail we were next to._

 _"No, Keita! Wait!" I yelled but I was too late again, he had already fell off._

I came back to reality and I kept thinking to myself:

That's right it's my fault. My arrogance above all killed you all.

If I had just come clean in the beginning and told you all that I was a beater instead of hiding it from you, I could've saved all of you the pain and death.

I have to beat Bloody Santa that way I can revive Shina and hear what her last words were.

Even if her last words were that she cursing me, I'll take it because I deserve it.

(Floor 49: Forest Field (Outside of town), 11:50 p.m)

While in my thoughts I walked through the forest and found the path that led to the fir tree and ran straight for it but then I came to a halt because I saw that someone was teleporting to me. When the blue light dissipated I saw that it was Zero.

"You followed me, I'm guessing." I asked him.

"Of course I did. You're after the rare revival item that everyone's after." Zero said.

"Yeah. What of it?" I told him.

"Dude, come on. Don't risk your life in here for some rumor that will turn out to be total crap." he said.

I didn't answer him.

"Man, you seriously can't just be risking your life in this game. Once your HP hits zero that's it, Game Over. In real life, your brain gets fried-"

"Shut up." I said as I cut off his sentence.

"I'm trying to get you to stop all your stupid solo bull crap. Come on, join up with me, I can help you get the boss to drop the item." he said.

"But then there would be no point. I have to do this. ALONE." I said as I raised my bat into an attack position.

He stood there a little shocked but not surprised.

"Takamuro, think about it. It's suicide. I can't let you get yourself killed like that. Come on." he said.

I started to power up my bat when a guild appeared out of a blue teleportation light.

"I guess you were being followed too, weren't you Zero?" I asked him.

"Hahahaha, yep it sure looks that way doesn't it? Who would've thought that I'd be followed by The Holy Hunters, the shadiest guild ever known." he said.

We both were standing side by side facing down the guild that outnumbered us 2 to 30.

"You fuckers." I said in a low voice.

"Oh fuck it. These guys can eat lead. Takamuro, you go on ahead I can handle these guys." Zero said to me from over his shoulder.

"What? No, I'll stay and help you beat these bastards." I said to him.

"No, there's no time. In a few minutes the event boss is going to appear so get your ass in gear and go!" he said as he started to get a devilish look in his eyes.

"Alright. Fine. Stay safe and beat these guys." I told him as I started to run for the location of the event boss.

"Hahahahaha, oh I'll have some fun alright. I'm on!" he said as he shot one of the guild members. "Hahahahaha, gotcha!"

(Floor 49: Fir Tree (Event location), 12:00 a.m)

As Zero held the fort I kept running until I reached the tree then after 5 minutes of running I reached the tree and I made right when the boss about to appear.

"Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho!" Bloody Santa said as he came slamming down onto the ground sending a giant wind of cold air in my direction.

When I looked at him I noticed that his suit wasn't just red because of the fabric but also because of the blood from the dismembered arms and legs that he was devouring from his "toy bag". He carried a giant cleaver.

His voice changed into something more sinister. "Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho! Have you been a good little boy?" he asked.

"No, I haven't. Now, let's do this." I said as I gripped my bat and started powering up.

The event bosses voice then went from being able to talk to nothing but groaning and yelling in that undead voice.

"Raaaaagh!" he yelled as he started to run at me.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaah!" I screamed as I started running at him full speed then jumping into the air and slamming my bat into his head beginning the fight.

(Floor 49: Forest Field, 12:50 a.m)

"Man, where is he?" Zero asked as he was injecting himself with a syringe filled with healing fluid.

I can back the way I came and Zero saw me but he also saw how dead my eyes looked.

"Hey man. How'd it go? You get the item?" he asked as I tossed him the rare item.

"There it is. That's the item." I said.

The item was a syringe but it was filled with a certain violet like color. Zero tapped on the item and it showed instructions on to use it.

"Let's see. Must administer to the affected player... Within 10 seconds?" he said in ultimate surprise.

"The day that someone you know is in terrible and the only way to save them is by using that, use it." I told him as I started walking away back to town.

I was about to walk back through the hidden gate that led to the area we were in when Zero grabbed my shoulder but I didn't turn around.

"Listen Takamuro, stay alive anyway you can. I don't care what ways you use, just stay alive until the end of this game." Zero said as his eyes started to tear up.

Zero then let go of my shoulder and I started to walk back to town while he stood there until I was gone.

(Floor 49: Mordro, 1:25 a.m, 12/25)

I returned back to the hotel and went straight to my room. I entered then sat in a chair at a desk. When I sat down I got a message and I looked at the name in sad surprise.

"Shina." I said.

I clicked on the message notification and a small tape and tape recorder appeared in front of me. I grabbed the tape then put it inside the recorder and pressed play then I heard her voice again:

 _Merry Christmas, Takamuro._

 _"If you're listening to this tape right now, it means I didn't make it and you couldn't keep your promise. I made this recording for you to let you know that I am not mad at you and that I don't blame you for my death._

 _Now to be honest with you I never wanted to leave the town of the living. I knew that someday because of me thinking that way, I would die one way or another. But the thing is that is my problem to bear and no one else is responsible for that._

 _Takamuro, the day I ran away and you found me, you told me every time that I wasn't going to die and I was great full for that. Even though you said I wasn't going to die I knew would anyway and I knew you would blame yourself for my death but it's not your fault._

 _By the way I know how powerful you truly are, sorry._

 _That day you let me sleep in your room I sort of peeked at your level when you were going through your inventory and everything._

 _I wondered why you kept your real level a secret and I wondered why you joined up with us._

 _I never came to a conclusion on it though. You know though when I saw your real strength I felt so glad and relieved all together._

 _Even though I'm dead, I want you to stay alive and keep playing this game until the end to find out why it was made, find out why a weak person like me ended up here, find out why you and I met in the first place._

 _Please, that's what I wish of you. Looks like I still have some time left, so seeing that it's Christmas I'll sing you a song._

She started to hum a Christmas song and while she did I let out a shudders breath and I started to cry a little."

"I'm sorry Shina." I said while my eyes kept welling up with tears.

She then finished her song and spoke one last time:

 _"Anyways Takamuro, I'm glad that I met you and that I could be with even for a short time. Thank you, goodbye."_

Once she finished there was a short silence and the tape stopped.

"I'm sorry Shina. I'm sorry to all of you." I said while crying softly.

 **(Shunkan SENTIMENTAL by SCANDAL *Japanese version*)**

 **(I DO NOT OWN THIS SONG!)**

 **Kawashiata hazu no nai**

 **yakusoku ga**

 **Kyou mo**

 **Bokura no mirai wa**

 **ubaou to suru**

 **Hoshigatte ita mono wo**

 **te ni shite mo**

 **Sunao ni**

 **Umaku waraenai no**

 **wa naze darou**

 **Afureru namida wa**

 **yowasa ya**

 **koukai janai**

 **Itami ga unda**

 **kakera de**

 **Donna shunkan datte**

 **unmei datte**

 **Hitotsu dake tashika**

 **na mono ga aru**

 **to shitta**

 **Genkai datte konnan**

 **datte**

 **Akirametakunai yo**

 **Kono mama**

 **Hanasanaide**

 **Kataku nigirishimeta kimi no**

 **migi te no**

 **nukumori**

 **Koko ni aru**

 **kara**


End file.
